Montville’s Melissa Gorga is married to Giudice’s younger brother, Joe Gorga, and she’s poised to replace Danielle Staub as the thorn in Giudice’s side. Gorga’s partner-in-crime is Kathy Wakile of Wayne, Giudice’s first cousin.

(To make matters worse, Gorga’s husband, Joe, has the same first name as Giudice’s husband, often referred to by Giudice as “Juicy Joe.” Shall we call Joe Gorga “Financially Solvent Joe”?)

In addition to Giudice, two other original flavor housewives are returning for the third season, which premieres tonight at 9 p.m.: Caroline Manzo and her sister-in-law, Jacqueline Laurita. After decamping from the show last season, Manzo’s sister Dina — who is married Caroline’s husband’s brother — will also make at least one appearance.

Whew.

The show’s sophomore season frustrated because the stakes weren’t high: Staub, who had only the most tenuous connection to the rest of the housewives to begin with, was on the outs with them for the entire second season. All the drama, then, revolved around fake reasons to throw them together.

This time, there’s blood involved. (No, Gorga assures us, she won’t be tossing any furniture. “I’m not one to get crazy and go nuts,” she says. “I just definitely stand my ground.”) Giudice and her brother used to be very close, but since he got married, there’s a lot of simmering resentment between the siblings, which comes to the fore very quickly at a christening for the youngest Gorga child, seen in tonight’s premiere. (News of the brawl at The Manor quickly leaked out after the christening.)

Gorga grew up in Toms River, studied education at New Jersey City University (she worked as a tanning consultant on the side, natch), and is raising three children with her husband while pursuing a singing career on the side.

We discussed the family drama — though Gorga refuses to comment on her brother-in-law Joe’s financial woes — and her fledgling musical career in a phone interview from her Montville home:
What was it like for you, airing your family’s dirty laundry on television?

It was rough. It wasn’t easy. It wasn’t something any of us wanted to do. We knew most likely what was going to happen, how it was going to come out. We look at it as an incredible opportunity, that if we go in and we’re telling the truth and we stay true to who we are, hopefully we’ll come out shining.

When the season opens, there is already a rift between you and your husband and Teresa and Joe. But I was reading in Teresa’s new cookbook that you all spend a lot of time together, seeing each other several days a week. Is she whitewashing it for the book?

I’m going to say that statement is very false. That’s a very false statement. It must have been a typo.
Well, she does go on to say that she wishes her baby sister-in-law didn’t copy everything she does, down to the shoes she wears to the chairs no her front porch. Response?

My response for that is, sometimes people have a way of trying to use reverse psychology, and they do try to turn it around and say it’s the other people. I think she’s just using a good example of that in there.

What did you think when you first heard that Teresa had signed her family up for a “Real Housewives” franchise?

I do remember her coming to us and telling us about it. Everyone pretty much told her not to do it except for me. I was like, ‘If they offered it to me, I would do it.’ I’m a singer. For me, it was an incredible stepping stone.
How do your in-laws feel about it?

I kind of feel sad for them. It can’t be easy on any parent to have their children argue. They kind of stay out of it. We don’t discuss it much.
Your husband’s a developer who built the beautiful house we see on the show. Was your husband ever in business with Joe Giudice?

Never, never, never.

You’re an aspiring singer. What do you think the show is going to do for you in that regard?

It’s really, really, really, like, an amazing journey. That’s going to be one of the storylines going forward, from the very start to the very end.

I don’t even know her! Sorry, that’s not happening. I know the Housewives kind of get a bad rap for the songs and the music they put out, but I am a legit singer. I hope everyone will be pleasantly surprised. But it’s legit. It’s legit. And I’m not doing any duets with Danielle.